Article - Employee Positive Emotion and Favorable Outcomes at The Workplace PDF

Employee Positive Emotion and Favorable Outcomes at the Workplace
Author(s): Barry M. Staw, Robert I. Sutton and Lisa H. Pelled

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Source: Organization Science, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Feb., 1994), pp. 51-71
Published by: INFORMS
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Employee Positive Emotion and Favorable
Outcomes at the Workplace
Barry M. Staw * Robert I. Sutton * Lisa H. Pelled

Haas School of Business, Universityof California at Berkeley,
Berkeley, CA 94720
Department of Industrial Engineering and EngineeringManagement,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
Department of Industrial Engineering and EngineeringManagement,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
T his paper contributes to the small but importantliterature on emotions in the workplace.
Moving beyond rational and economic views of employees, the authors integrate diverse
literaturesand use archivaldata to show that positiveaffect has favorableoutcomesat workin terms
of supervisorevaluationand coworkersupport.The impactof positiveand negativeemotionsis a rich
area of researchabout organizations.
RichardL. Daft
Abstract dispositional determinants of affect (e.g., Staw et al.

This paper draws on writings in psychology,sociology and 1986), and expressed emotions in organizations (Rafaeli
organizationalbehaviorto develop a conceptualframework and Sutton 1989). This broader formulation of job
that specifies how positive emotion helps employees obtain attitudes has opened organizational research to a wider
favorableoutcomes at work. We propose that feeling and array of concepts such as positive and negative affect,
expressingpositiveemotionson the job have favorableconse- optimism, depression, liking and happiness. This refor-
quenceson: (1) employeesindependentof their relationships mulation of job attitude research has also stimulated a
with others (e.g., greaterpersistence),(2) reactionsof others new search for the consequences of emotion in the
to employees (e.g., "halo," or overgeneralizationto other
workplace. In lieu of the usual process of correlating
desirable traits), and (3) reactions of employees to others
(e.g., helping others). These three sets of interveningpro- job satisfaction with absenteeism, turnover, and perfor-
cesses are proposed, in turn, to lead to work achievement, mance, it is now more evident that research can prof-
job enrichmentand a higherqualitysocial context.A partial itably examine how emotion influences a wider set of
test of this frameworkis made in an 18-monthstudy of 272 personal and organizational outcomes.
employees.Results indicate that positive emotion on the job The present study is among the first attempts to
at time 1 is associatedwith evidence of work achievement empirically examine the broader consequences of atti-
(more favorablesupervisorevaluationsand higherpay) and a tudes in the workplace. Our general hypothesis is quite
supportivesocial context(more supportfrom supervisorsand simple. We propose that employees who feel and dis-
coworkers)at time 2. But positive emotion at time 1 is not play positive emotion on the job will experience posi-
significantlyassociatedwith job enrichmentat time 2. tive outcomes in their work roles. This overarching
(Positive Emotion; Employee Success) theme is used to weave together diverse literature in
psychology, sociology and organizational behavior per-
tinent to emotion at the workplace. We focus on ex-
plaining outcomes provided by the workplace that are
Many basic elements of research on job attitudes have favorable from the employee's perspective, not the
changed in recent years. Instead of simply assessing organization's perspective.
employee responses to various aspects of the work role, Several specific relationships are posited to underlie
attention has begun to shift toward how social contexts the general hypothesis that positive emotion yields
shape attitudes and needs (Salancik and Pfeffer 1978), favorable work outcomes; these are outlined in Figure
1047-7039/94/0501/0051/$01.25
Copyright ? 1994. The Institute of Management Sciences ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VO1. 5, No. 1, February 1994 51
BARRY M. STAW, ROBERT I. SUTTON AND LISA H. PELLED Employee Positive Emotion and Favorable Outcomes
Figure 1 The Link Between Employee Positive Emotion and Favorable Outcomes at the Workplace
Intervening Processes
Effects on employee
Positive Emotion * Greatertask activity and Favorable Employee

at Work persistence Outcomes at Work
. Enhancedcognitive
functioning
|Felt positive l Others'responsesto employee Work Achievement

emotion l Greaterinterpersonal
attraction
4 i . "Halo",overgeneralization
to otherdesirabletraits r Job Enrichment
. Moreproneto respond
favorablyto employee's
Expressed social influenceattempts Supportive
positive emotion Social Context
Employee'sresponsesto others
. Moreproneto help others
1. The model suggests that positive emotion brings spective also imply desirable consequences from the
about favorable outcomes on the job through three sets employee's perspective. Research by industrial psychol-
of intervening processes. First, positive emotion has ogists, for example, indicates that positive affect by job
desirable effects independent of a person's relation- candidates (Arvey and Campion 1982, Eder and Ferris
ships with others, including greater task activity, persis- 1989) threatens the validity of selection interviews, and
tence, and enhanced cognitive functioning. Second, that the extent to which an employee is likable (Cardy
people with positive rather than negative emotion ben- and Dobbins 1986) or satisfied (Smither et al. 1989)
efit from more favorable responses by others. People threatens the validity of performance evaluations. From
with positive emotion are more successful at influenc- an employee's perspective, these findings suggest that
ing others. They are also more likable, and a halo positive affect will help him or her to get a job and to
effect may occur when warm or satisfied employees are receive favorable performance evaluations.
rated favorably on other desirable attributes. Third,
people with positive feelings react more favorably to
others, which, is reflected in greater altruism and coop-
eration with others. We hypothesize that the combina- The Intertwining of Felt and Expressed
tion of these intervening processes leads to favorable Positive Emotion
outcomes in the workplace, including achievement (e.g., Figure 1 does not distinguish between the conse-
favorable supervisor evaluations and greater pay), job quences of felt and expressed positive emotion. We do
enrichment (e.g., variety, autonomy, feedback and not make this distinction, in part, because it is so
meaning), and a more supportive social context (e.g., difficult to measure inner feelings (e.g., researchers
support from coworkers and supervisors).' typically infer internal emotions from expressed emo-
Before explicating this framework, however, it is tions gleaned from questionnaries, interviews and ob-
important to emphasize that we do not contend that servations). We also do not make this distinction
traveling through organizational life in a good mood is because theory and research suggest that felt and
a panacea. We take care throughout this paper to point expressed emotion are closely intertwined. Research
out conditions under which pleasant emotions may on social desirability (Crowne and Marlow 1964), self-
lead to undesirable consequences for employees. monitoring (Snyder 1974), and emotional labor
Often, however, findings that positive emotion has un- (Hochschild 1983) do suggest that expressed and felt
desirable consequences from the organization's per- emotions are conceptually distinct. But a substantial
52 ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/Vo1. 5, No. 1, February 1994
BARRY M. STAW, ROBERT I. SUTTON AND LISA H. PELLED EmployEmotion and Favorable Outcomes
body of literatureindicatesthat there are strongrecip- Direct Influence of Positive Emotion on Employees
rocaleffects between felt an expressedemotions.When Figure 1 proposesthat positive emotion influencestwo
investigatorshave used manipulationspresumedto in- sets of performance processes: (1) task activity and
duce positive and negative feelings, they have found persistence and (2) cognitivefunctioning.These forces
that such feelings are highlycorrelatedwith both self- may lead to beneficial outcomes for the employee
reportsand facial expressions(see Ekman1982, p. 75). when actual work performance is increased. These
There is also evidence showing that, when organiza- forces may also lead to favorableoutcomes when oth-
tions try to require members to express an emotion ers, especiallypowerfulpeople who control incentives,
they do not feel, employees often come to internalize notice that an employeehas work-relatedskills.Power-
such requiredemotions(Hochschild1983,Sutton 1991). ful people can rewardpersistenceand enhancedcogni-
And even when employees try to feign required emo- tive functioningwith incentives such as pay, favorable
tions that they do not feel, their inner feelings may performanceratings,interestingwork, and a more sup-
nonetheless shape expressed emotions. For example, portivesocial context.
service employees tend to smile less as external stress TaskActivity and Persistence. There is evidence that
increases(Suttonand Rafaeli 1988).Likewise,Ekman's most people tend to be optimistic in anticipatingsuc-
(1985) researchon lying indicatesthat when people try cess (Weinstein 1980) and also have, "illusionsof con-
to displayfalse emotions,their inner feelings often leak trol," believing that they can influence outcomes that
out in unintendedways. are randomlydetermined(Langer1975). Experiencing
Felt and expressedemotions may be intertwinedfor positive emotion seems to exacerbate these beliefs.
both cognitive and physiologicalreasons. In terms of People who are positive in disposition or mood are
cognition,the expressionof a given emotion may lead more likelyto overestimatetheir controlover the world
individualsto solidify their self-perception that they and the outcomes they will receive than those with
are feeling in a particularway; in a sense, becoming negative emotion (e.g., Alloy and Abramson 1979,
behaviorallycommitted (Kiesler 1971, Salancik 1977) Alloy et al. 1981, Taylor and Brown 1988). Similarly,
to a particularemotion. This process may explainwhy people with positive moods or dispositions are more
research indicates that expressed hostility often in- subjectto self-servingbiases, (tendingto attributeposi-
creases rather than decreases anger toward another tive consequences to personal rather than external
party (e.g., Ebbeson et al. 1975, Berkowitz1978), and causes) than people with negative emotion (see Taylor
why positive interpersonalinteractioncan increase for and Brown, 1988 and Fiske and Taylor, 1991 for re-
liking for others (Cialdini 1984). And some research views).
suggeststhat expressedemotionscan triggerphysiolog- One recent study (Dunning and Story 1991) has
ical processes that determinefelt emotions. For exam- shownthat positivepeople actuallydo experiencemore
ple, Zajonc et al. (1989) found that utterancescausing positive outcomes, disputing the notion that positive
subjects to form facial expressionssimilar to a smile beliefs are necessarilyillusory.Yet, no matterwhether
(e.g., repeatingthe letter "e") were associatedwith the peoples' beliefs about the future are accurate or not,
most pleasant mood, and utterances that caused sub- one conclusion is relatively certain. Anticipation of
jects to form facial expressionssimilarto a frown(e.g., success and thoughts that one can bring it about are
repeatingthe letter "u") were associatedwith the least likely to facilitate task activityand persistence. When
pleasantmood. Zajoncand his colleaguespresent phys- people believe that their actions will lead to positive
iological evidence indicating these effects occur be- results, they are more likely to initiate difficult and
cause unpleasantfacial expressionscause insufficiently uncertain tasks. And, when people believe they have
cooled blood to enter the brain, which people experi- some degree of control over task success (e.g., self-
ence as unpleasant, while pleasant facial expressions efficacy),they are more likely to persist under difficult
facilitate the cooling of blood flowingto the brain. By or failing conditions (Bandura 1982, 1991). Thus, be-
extension, these findings suggest that displaying un- cause positive emotion increases tendencies toward
pleasant emotions may cause employees to have un- optimism and perceived control, we would expect
pleasant feelings because they-literally-become greater task activity and perseverance. Indeed, as
more hot-headed. Taken together, the literature sug- Taylor and Brown (1988) point out, the link between
gests that, althoughfelt positive emotion and expressed happinessand activityhas been suggestedby observers
positive emotion can be distinguishedin theory, the of humanbehaviorgoing back to Aristotle.
presence of one often implies the presence of the A studyby Seligmanand Schulman(1986) is illustra-
other. tive of the predictedeffects of optimismon task persis-
ORGANIZATIONSCIENCE/VOl. 5, No. 1, February 1994 53
tence. These researchers divided a sample of 103 new to those in a bad mood or subjects in a control group,
life insurance agents on measures of dispositional opti- to use efficient and rapid problem-solving strategies
mism, using measures of how people typically attribute (Isen and Means 1983). Other experiments suggest that
the causes of success versus failure rather than simple subjects in good moods take greater risks in hypotheti-
assessments of expected outcomes. Seligman and his cal situations or when the chances of winning are high
colleagues (e.g., Abramson et al. 1987) have argued (Isen et al. 1982, Isen and Patrick 1983, Isen et al.
that people with pessimistic coping styles will construe 1990). In contrast, in situations where the possibility
bad events in their lives as resulting from internal ("it for loss is large or salient, positive affect appears to
is my fault"), enduring ("it will go on forever"), and lead to cautious behavior (Isen and Geva 1987, Isen
global causes ("it will ruin everything that I do"). In et al. 1988). Thus, positive emotion may foster deci-
contrast, people with optimistic coping styles believe sion-making designed to maintain one's positive state
that bad events are due to external, temporary, and -taking risks when success appears likely, yet being
local causes. Results from the life insurance study cautious when the odds appear slim.
showed that optimists remained on their jobs at twice There has also been research on the connection
the rate of pessimists and sold more insurance than between mood and creative problem-solving. Positive
pessimists. These results are particularly interesting affect appears to promote more connection and inte-
because insurance agents repeatedly encounter failure, gration of stimuli. Subjects induced to be in good
rejection and indifference from clients-that is they moods generate a broader range of associations with
must work on a task in which persistence is necessary common words, recall longer lists of words that are
for success. Other research on optimism has yielded related to one another, and are more likely to solve
similar results. For example, college freshmen with problems that require seeing a broader set of potential
optimistic coping styles were shown to have higher relationships among the elements composing an issue
grade point averages than those with pessimistic styles (Isen and Daubman 1984, Isen et al. 1985, Isen et al.
(Peterson and Bennett 1987). Also, controlling for prior 1987). Furthermore, research on negotiation by
levels of achievement, school children with optimistic Carnevale and Isen (1986) indicates that people in
styles subsequently performed better on standardized good moods are more likely to reach integrative rather
achievement tests than students who had pessimistic than compromise solutions. Because integrative solu-
styles (Nolen-Hoeksema et al. 1986). tions require more creativity, Carnevale and Isen assert
Enhanced Cognitive Functioning. Although people that this finding shows that positive affect promotes
who are happy may be more active and persistent on creativity during negotiations.
tasks, they may be less accurate in their cognitive It may be possible to reconcile the "sadder but
functioning. Research has shown, for example, that the wiser" and "happier and smarter" literatures by noting
more depressed an individual is, the less susceptible he that the consequences of positive and negative affect
or she is to cognitive biases such as overconfidence, can depend on the task involved. For example, if the
self-serving attributions, and illusions of control (e.g., task requires cognitive processing that is rapid, based
Sweeney et al. 1982, Kuiper 1978, Alloy and Abramson on heuristics and broad integrative categories, then
1979). Such "sadder but wiser" effects have also been individuals with positive affect may have an advantage.
supported by attitude change experiments. Using vari- In contrast, when a task requires tighter information
ous mood manipulations, persuasion studies have found processing, with more careful attention paid to detailed
that those in positive moods tend to be less sensitive to arguments and data, then people with negative affect
the quality of arguments than those in negative affec- may have an advantage (Schwartz and Bless 1991).
tive states. That is, when a person is happy a strong Although such a contingency approach to affect makes
argument is not much more persuasive than a weak conceptual sense, it has not yet been upheld in any
argument; but when a person is in a negative mood, he direct tests. Staw and Barsade (1992) used a three-hour
or she is much more likely to be persuaded by a strong managerial decision exercise to see whether affective
than a weak set of arguments (see Mackie and Worth, disposition would predict performance in a detailed
1991, Schwartz et al. 1991 for reviews). decision-making task. They gathered data on whether
In opposition to these "sadder but wiser" findings is MBA students with negative emotion were more care-
an extensive stream of research linking positive emo- ful in their decisions, used more information, and
tion and enhanced cognitive functioning. These "hap- recognized the interrelationships of various decision
pier and smarter" studies indicate that subjects in- elements. None of the "sadder but wiser" hypotheses
duced to be in good moods are more likely, compared were upheld. Those who were positive in emotion
54 ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VO1. 5, No. 1, February 1994
made better decisions and displayedmore evidence of experience again. In contrast, providingsupport to an
accurateinformationprocessingin the managerialsim- unhappy person may provoke unpleasant feelings in
ulations.Given these results,one mightlogicallyexpect the helper, who may then shun the unhappy person.
that positive emotion will, on balance, enhance cogni- Evidencefor this effect is providedby a recent longitu-
tive functioningin organizationalsettings. dinal field study of 486 men by Vinokur et al. (1987).
They reported that people who had a generalized
Responses of Others to Employees negative outlook on life (e.g., lacked self-esteem and
Figure 1 proposes that positive emotion has three sets resented others) at time 1 later reportedreceivingless
of effects on employees'relationshipswith others. First, social support from significantothers, and that their
employees with positive emotion will be viewed as significant others (wives and close friends) reported
more interpersonallyattractive.Second,employeeswho givingthem less subsequentsupportas well.
have positive affect will tend to be rated by others as Halo. The notion that people with positiveemotion
having a wide range of desirable traits, even when (and who are more likable) have an advantagewhen
others lack informationabout such traits. Third, more observers evaluate their other traits is an old and
likable people have more success at wielding social persistent theme in the social sciences. Asch's (1946)
influence over others. Taken together, these patterns classicresearchon impressionformationsuggestedthat
suggest that people with positive affect will be viewed the warm-colddimensionwas a central trait that col-
by others as more deservingof incentivesand support ored the perceptionsof numerousother traits, despite
on the job. a complete absence of informationabout those traits.
Interpersonal Attraction. The most direct evidence Two groupsof subjectswere each presented a list of a
that people with positive ratherthan negative emotion person's traits;the lists differed only in that the word
are more interpersonallyattractiveis found in research "warm" appeared in one list and the word "cold"
on depression.Coyne (1976) conducted an experiment appeared in the other list. Pronounced differences
in which 45 undergraduatestudents were each ran- between the "warm"and "cold" groups included sub-
domly paired with a stranger and engaged in a 20- jects ratingsof the hypotheticalperson as "generous"
minute unstructuredtelephone conversationwith the (91% versus 8%), "wise" (65% versus 25%), and
stranger.The set of strangerscomprised15 depressed "good-natured"(94%versus 17%).Asch's findingsare
psychiatric outpatients, 15 nondepressed psychiatric often interpreted as an example of halo error (e.g.,
outpatients and 15 controls. Comparedto subjects in Cooper 1981), a widely observed effect that occurs
the other two groups, those who talked to depressed when one salient feature of a person being evaluated
outpatientswere less willing to engage in future inter- colorsjudgmentsmade about that person acrossa wide
actionswith the strangers.Subjectsin the experimental range of dimensions.
group also reported that, after the interaction, they The notion that employees' positive emotion causes
were more depressed, anxious, and hostile than sub- halo error when others evaluate their performanceis
jects who talkedto nondepressedpatients and controls. reflected in a wide range of research.A correlational
The literatureon social support also provides some study by Alexander and Wilkins(1982) found that the
indirect evidence that positive emotion leads to inter- extent to which supervisorsliked subordinateswas a
personalattraction.Cross-sectionalfield studiesconsis- stronger predictor of supervisors' performance ap-
tently have found positive relationshipsbetween social praisals than objective indicatorsof subordinateper-
supportand indicatorsof pleasant emotion such as life formance.Similarly,severalexperimentalstudiesfound
satisfaction,self-esteem,lack of depression,and lack of that indicatorsof ratee positive affect includingsatis-
anxiety(e.g., Caplan et al. 1980, House 1981, Ganster faction (Smither et al. 1989), lack of nastiness and
et al. 1986). These findings usually are portrayed as coldness (Krzystofiaket al. 1988), as well as liking
evidence that people who receive aid, affirmationand (Cardyand Dobbins 1986), led others to make inflated
emotional support from others use these resources to evaluationsof ratee performance.
enhance their mental well-being. But these data may The halo effect also is impliedby literatureon selec-
also reflect the opposite causal relationship:positive tion interviews.Typically,several videotapes of simu-
emotion may lead others to provide social support. lated job interviews are presented to subjects, each
Those who are emotionallypositive may be viewed as with varyinglevels of displayedpositive emotion such
more interpersonallyattractive. Providing emotional as smiling, hand gesturingand eye contact. These ex-
and tangible assistance to a happy person provokes periments consistently reveal that interviewees who
good feelings in the helper, who will then seek the displaygreaterpositive emotion throughnonverbalbe-
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VO1. 5, No. 1, February 1994 55
havior are more likely to be rated as desirable employ- positive emotion wield social influence. As we have
ees (e.g., Imada and Hakel 1977, McGovern and Tins- learned from research on social information processing
ley 1978, Rasmussen 1984). Forbes and Jackson (1980) (Salancik and Pfeffer 1978, Zalesny and Ford 1990),
report a similar finding in their field study of applicants positive and negative emotions are infectious, spread-
for engineering apprenticeships. ing from one person to another. And when a person is
The halo effect often demonstrated in both the per- in a positive emotional state, he or she may be highly
formance evaluation and selection literatures does not susceptible to social influence. As noted above, experi-
mean that positive emotion can always substitute for ments have shown that, when a person is in a good
objective qualifications or performance. No doubt, the mood, he or she may not pay close attention to the
display of positive emotion combined with very poor quality of arguments in a message, with the result
credentials can be interpreted as a sign of ingratiation being that weak arguments can be just as persuasive as
by applicants. Likewise, positive emotion combined strong arguments for those in positive as opposed to
with performance that is viewed as deficient, could negative emotional states (see Schwartz et al. 1991).
make the employee appear even weaker to the evalua- Thus, people may comply with more requests from
tor. These caveats notwithstanding, positive emotion is people with positive (rather than negative) emotion for
usually a beneficial contributor to performance and several reasons. First, people who display positive emo-
employment evaluation. Logically, one would expect tion may put others in a good mood, making them
halo effects to be most prevalent in cases where there susceptible to weak as well as strong arguments in
are not many objective differences in performance persuasion attempts. Second, as Fiske and Taylor (1991)
among candidates and where performance indicators note, people who are in good moods take steps to
are inherently ambiguous: two prevalent conditions in maintain their pleasurable state. Coworkers and supe-
work organizations. Although the applied psychology riors may therefore say "yes" to positive employees in
literature treats positive emotion as a source of distor- order to encourage further pleasant interactions with
tion in performance evaluations, the focus here is on such employees. Finally, the norm of reciprocity
the consequences of positive emotion for the individ- (Gouldner 1960) provides a third explanation for this
ual. From the employees' vantage point, any increase social influence. Positive emotion may, in itself, be
in evaluated performance due to positive emotion con- viewed as something of value that an organizational
stitutes a favorable or successful outcome at the work- member gives to others. As a result, others may feel
place. obligated by the rules of exchange to reciprocate by
Social Influence. As we noted, the literature on saying "yes" to their requests. Regardless of the the-
interpersonal attraction indicates that people who have oretical mechanism, we can infer from the literature on
positive affect are more likable than those with nega- social influence that-all other things being
tive affect. Writings on social influence suggest, in turn, equal-employees who have more positive emotion
that people who are more well-liked are more success- may be more successful when they make requests for
ful at persuading others to comply with their requests higher pay, more interesting work, and other desirable
(e.g., Drachman et al. 1978). In summarizing this re- outcomes available at the workplace.
search, Cialdini (1984) argues that the use of liking to
produce assent from others is so widely known that Employees' Reactions to Others
some sales jobs are designed so that occupants will Helping Behavior. Experimental research on altru-
only sell products to people who already know and like ism has consistently shown that people who are in-
them (e.g., at Tupperware parties). Similarly, when duced to be in positive moods are more likely to be
they must sell products such as cars or encyclopedias to helpful to others. Subjects who experience success at
strangers, Cialdini contends that the salespersons' tasks are more likely to help others (e.g., Berkowitz
"strategy is quite direct: They first get us to like them" and Conner 1966, Isen 1970, Isen et al. 1973), as are
(p. 165). As an extreme example, Cialdini describes Joe subjects who find a dime in a telephone booth (Isen
Girard, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and Levin 1972), or are given free stationery (Isen et al.
as the world's greatest car salesman, who regularly sent 1976). In summarizing this research, Isen (1984) con-
out 13,000 greeting cards each month to customers and cludes that positive affect consistently brings about
potential customers. The greeting on the front varied greater sociability and benevolence.
with the season, but the message inside was always There is not yet firm agreement about the explana-
simply: "I like you." tion for this "feel good, do good" phenomenon. One
Likeability may not be the only way that people with explanation is that being in a good mood is reinforcing,
and helpingothers is a form of self-rewardthat enables positive emotion improves cognitive functioning, one
a person to maintainthis pleasurablestate (Fiske and might also expect parallel improvementsin perfor-
Taylor 1991). Another explanationis that people who mance, if the job entails cognitive requirements.Of
are in good moods are generally more attracted to course, performancein the organizationalcontext can
others(e.g., Gouaux1971,Mehrabianand Russell 1975, depend as muchon interpersonalas cognitivefunction-
Bell 1978). As the literature on social influence sug- ing (e.g., the abilityto get along with others may be as
gests, people are more willing to help people they like important as doing good individual work). In such
comparedto those they dislike.The implicationis that, cases, positive emotion might contribute to achieve-
comparedto employees who are usually grouchy,em- ment via interpersonalfunctioning.Finally, regardless
ployees in good moods are more helpful to others of actual performance,one can expect that the display
because they find themselveslikinga largerproportion of emotion will influence the assessment of achieve-
of people encounteredat the workplace.2 ment and allocation of rewards by others. Prior re-
The hypothesisthat positive emotion leads to more search,for example,has shown that positive affect is a
altruism also is suggested by the emerging body of systematicsource of halo in performanceevaluations
theory and research on organizationalcitizenship de- (Cardyand Dobbins 1986, Smitheret al. 1989). There
veloped by Organand his colleagues(see Organ 1988). is also experimentalevidence that subordinateswho
Organizationalcitizenshipreflects contributionsmade engage in ingratiationby acting friendly and offering
by employees at the workplacethat go beyond formal complimentsare more likely to receive pay raises from
role expectations.Organ summarizesa series of cross- supervisorsthan subordinateswho do not engage in
sectional studies indicating that job satisfaction is ingratiation(Kipnis and Vanderveer 1971). Although
among the most robust predictors of organizational such effects are often considered a source of bias or
citizenship behaviors, even when self-reports of job error,especiallyin the literatureon performanceeval-
satisfactionare correlatedwith independentreportsof uations,we considerthese improvementsin ratingsand
citizenship. George and Brief (1993) make a similar rewards as achievementsin their own right, at least
argument that a positive mood at work is likely to from the individual'spoint of view. Thus, due to the
contribute to organizational spontaneity. They note subjective as well as objective influences of positive
that positive emotion can be linked with helping co- emotion, we propose:
workers, protecting the organization and spreading
goodwill. Such contributionsby the employee may be HYPOTHESIS 1. Employees with greaterpositive emo-
reciprocatedby others in the organizationthroughthe tion will receive more favorable evaluations of their
allocation of more favorableperformanceevaluations, performance and higherpay.
higher pay, desirable tasks and both supervisorand
peer support. In addition to rated performanceand pay, another
valued outcome is the work itself. Job design research
has shown that most people desire an enriched job
Hypotheses with characteristicssuch as variety, significance,iden-
Our review of the literature,summarizedin Figure 1, tity, feedback and autonomy(Hackman and Oldham
shows that one can expect positive emotion to have a 1980). In addition, Oldham and his colleagues have
range of favorableresults. As we noted, much of the shown (Oldham et al. 1982, Oldham et al. 1986) that
existing literatureshows that positive affect has bene- job characteristicscan operate like other more tangible
ficial consequencesin terms of cognition,interpersonal rewardsin creatingsatisfactionor dissatisfactionamong
attraction,and helping behavior.Yet this prior litera- employees. Workers apparently compare themselves
ture has been relativelysilent on consequencesat the with others on job dimensions and can experience
workplace from the individual'spoint of view. We deprivationwhen others have more enrichedjobs. Like
know relativelylittle about whether positive emotion money and other readily recognized resources (Foa
translatesinto greater achievement,better job assign- 1971), an enriched job may have both personal and
ments, and a richer social environmentfor individuals social meaning.It may be a symbolthat one's position
workingin organizationalsettings. Such questionswill in the organizationvalued by others (Salancik and
be the main focus of the present researcheffort. Pfeffer 1978).
One might expect that cognitiveimprovements(such Positive emotion can be expected to influence job
as greater persistence and creativity)will be reflected enrichment through three principal routes. First, if
in greater achievementby employees. For example, if positive emotion leads to an actual improvementin
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOl. 5, No. 1, February 1994 57
work performance, then a more difficult or complex job HYPOTHESIS 3. Employees with greaterpositive emo-
assignment might logically follow. Second, the same tion will receive more social supportfrom supervisorsand
logic applies to any positive halo or bias resulting from coworkers.
an employee's positive emotionality, because it is the
An ExploratoryTest
perception (not the reality) of an employee's ability
As we have noted, positive emotion may have a num-
that determines a supervisor's view of whether the
ber of direct and indirect consequences. Most of the
person can handle a job assignment. Third, the litera-
prior literature has outlined relationships between
ture leads us to expect that positive employees are
emotion and what we have labeled intervening vari-
more successful in persuading supervisors and others
in the organization to give them more interesting work. ables in Figure 1. These proximal or intermediate
relationships (perhaps with the exception of some as-
Because they are well liked, supervisors may offer
pects of cognitive functioning) have been validated by
positive individuals better assignments and yield more
enough prior research as to be relatively uncontrover-
readily to their requests for more enriched jobs. Thus,
sial. In contrast, there has been little research linking
we propose:
affect to the more distal outcomes of employees. Thus,
the present study will address the three major hypothe-
HYPOTHESIS 2. Employees with greaterpositive emo-
ses concerning the relationship between positive emo-
tion will receive more enriched jobs.
tion and employee outcomes.
Much theory and research suggests that job perfor-
Our third hypothesis concerns the social context of
mance may cause job satisfaction (Petty et al. 1984).
work. Employees with positive emotion may be more
likely to receive social support, since their supervisors Similarly, laboratory researchers have found that suc-
cess can be used to induce positive mood among sub-
and coworkers use psychological and technical assis-
jects (Isen and Shalker 1982, Weiner and Graham
tance as rewards for good performance. For example,
1984). As a result, this test of the framework presented
if those with positive emotion are likely to be better
here uses a longitudinal design in which positive emo-
performers in terms of persistence or decision making,
tions were measured well before indications of favor-
then both superiors and coworkers may offer more
able outcomes suggesting success at the workplace.
support to such people. Likewise, if those with positive
In testing the three hypotheses outlined above, an
emotion are more helpful in work situations, then
ideal research design might not only examine prior and
coworkers and supervisors may "repay" such citizen-
subsequent levels of the consequences of emotion, but
ship with supportive actions. Finally, positive employ-
also the intervening variables underlying the relation-
ees may receive more social support simply because
interaction with them is more reinforcing than with ships between emotion and employee outcomes. The
negative employees. Thus, we contend that others are study that follows is more limited and exploratory. We
use a data set that contains good measures of both
supportive of positive individuals because of the re-
work outcomes and emotionality, but unfortunately
warding qualities of positive emotion itself, and be-
does not allow a test of the intervening processes. The
cause support serves as compensation for valued ac-
tions contributed by those in a positive state. analyses that follow should thus be viewed as testing
the plausibility of the model in Figure 1 rather than its
We treat social support as a favorable outcome for
the employee for several reasons. People who receive accuracy. If relationships between positive emotion and
more tangible and emotional assistance from their su- employee outcomes can be established, then the pro-
cesses underlying such relationships become plausible,
pervisors are, by definition, engaging in more frequent
if not proven. The contribution of this preliminary test
interaction with higher ranking members of the organi-
is that it underscores the value of subsequent research.
zation, suggesting that they are valued by those in
If overall relationships are discovered between emotion
power. Social support from coworkers is also a valued
and employee outcomes, it then becomes important to
work outcome since employees can use it to protect
themselves from occupational stress and health prob- study the relative contribution of each of the processes
lems (Cobb & Kasl, 1977; House, 1981). Finally, be- underlying these effects.
cause most people value social interaction on the job
(Locke, 1976), social support is by itself a positive Methods
consequence of working, a reward that may often rank Sample
alongside money and the task as important personal The present study uses data collected by The Univer-
outcomes from employment. Thus, we propose: sity of Michigan's Survey Research Center for a study
58 ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994
BARRYM. STAW, ROBERT I. SUTTON AND LISA H. PELLED EmployEmotion and Favorable Outcomes
of "Effectiveness in Work Roles: Employee Responses structured observations were made during the study.
to Work Environments" (Quinn 1977). Data were col- Jenkins et al. (1975) report that these observations
lected at two times, separated by 18 to 20 months. have satisfactory inter-rater reliability. Further descrip-
Time 1 data were gathered in Winter 1972. Time 2 tions of this methodology can be found in Jenkins et al.
data were gathered in Fall 1974. The panel sample for (1975), Glick et al. (1986), and Quinn (1977).
both periods included 272 employees of three midwest- Fourth, and finally, a supervisor rating form was
ern organizations: a hospital and two manufacturers of developed for use in the Effectiveness in Work Roles
automobile accessories. The sample was composed of study. Employees were evaluated on eight aspects of
152 men and 120 women. The mean age was 37.58. For their work behavior at both time 1 and time 2. This one
further details about the sample, see writings by Glick page instrument was completed by the employee's im-
et al. (1986), Gupta and Beehr (1982), Jenkins et al. mediate supervisor and then mailed directly to the
(1975), and Quinn (1977). Survey Research Center.
Data Sources Measures

A primary aim of the Effectiveness in Work Roles The predictor, dependent and control variables used in
study was to use multiple methods to measure at- this study are described below. The Appendix presents
tributes of and responses to work. The present study a complete list of the items that compose each scale,
uses data gathered with four different methods. First, along with information about the number of response
we used data collected through face-to-face interviews anchors, data source, and scoring (positive or negative)
with employees. Professional interviewers from the for each item.
Survey Research Center staff administered these inter- Predictor Variable. Our conceptual approach to
views, typically at respondents' homes. The interview measuring emotion follows the assertion of Zajonc
questions and format were based on the interviews et al. (1989) that "Despite disagreement about the
used in three national studies of the quality of employ- taxonomic boundaries of emotion labels, there is virtu-
ment (see Quinn and Staines 1979). The interview ally full agreement about one important fact-emo-
included a variety of methods to gather self-report data tions can be discriminated from each other quite
from respondents including closed-ended and open- reliably according to their positive-negative hedonic
ended questions that required oral responses, and sev- polarity. Many theorists consider this polarity to be a
eral brief questionnaires. The interview also included fundamental feature of all emotions." (p. 401). Zajonc
card sorts, a method in which cards with questions or et al. note further that "A focus on the one dimension
statements are sorted into piles representing different about which there is general consensus-hedonic po-
response anchors. Second, at the end of each interview, larity-might well be most fruitful for research at this
the interviewer recorded his or her observations of time" (p. 412, 1989). In this vein, rather than focusing
several characteristics of the employee, including gen- on subtle differences in taxonomic boundaries, we em-
der and apparent intelligence. phasize similarities among the lessons researchers have
Third, structured field observations were made by reported under a wide range of labels for pleasant and
observers while each employee performed his or her unpleasant emotions. This emphasis on integration
job. These observers had two days of intensive training. rather than differentiation is most useful for develop-
At time 1, each employee was watched at work by at ing and testing general theory about the consequences
least two different observers on two different occasions. of positive emotion at work. Such integration frees us
At time 2, only 147 of the 272 employees who partici- from taking constant digressions to explain largely mi-
pated were watched because no time 2 observations nor differences between concepts such as optimism,
were made at one of the automotive plants. Of these satisfaction, pleasantness, happiness, absence of work-
147 employees, 100 were watched by a single observer; related depression, high positive emotion and low neg-
the remaining 47 were watched by three observers, ative emotion. Thus, although some recent literature
once by a single observer and once by a pair of differ- has drawn finer distinctions between aspects of positive
ent observers who watched simultaneously. Employees emotion, especially between positive and negative af-
were watched by different observers at time 1 and time fect (Watson and Tellegen 1985), we treat positive
2. Each observation period lasted between 60 and 90 emotion as a single dimension to predict employee
minutes. The observer recorded information about par- outcomes.
ticipating employees and their jobs in a structured Our major predictor variable, positive emotion at
observation booklet. In all, more than 1,500 hours of work, was operationalized by a composite scale mea-
suring the extent to which employees felt and ex- deductions are made?" The same measure of pay was
pressed positive emotion on the job at time 1. To used on the interview at time 2. Pay at time 1 was used
construct this scale we first used a modified and re- as a control variable in the analysis. Archival informa-
verse-scored version of Quinn and Shepard's (1974) 10 tion at time 2 was not available for use in this study.
item work-related depression scale. The ten items in However, using the archival data available at time 1,
Quinn and Shepard's depression scale were drawn Gupta and Beehr (1982) conducted a study of the
from the 20 item Zung Self Rating Depression Scale correspondence between archival and self-report pay
(Zung 1965). Quinn and Shepard reported that this 10 data. They reported that the correlation between the
item subscale correlates 0.95 with the original scale. two indicators of income was 0.71.
We then added two other self-report items to this The measure of job enrichment used data gathered
scale. The first asked the extent to which the employee by the trained observers. This measure was based on
felt happy or sad at work. The second asked employees scales developed by Jenkins et al. (1975) and Glick
to report their level of pep and energy on a seven-step et al. (1986) in prior studies using the Effectiveness in
ladder. We included this item because feeling energetic Work Roles data set. This measure operationalizes
and alert rather than sluggish indicates absence of four dimensions identified by Hackman and Oldham
depression. In addition to the 12 self-report items, we (1980) as features of motivating jobs: task feedback,
included three items from the trained observers indi- variety, autonomy and meaning. Task identity, the fifth
cating how often the employee smiled, laughed or said of Hackman and Oldham's (1980) proposed list of job
something funny. These observational data were added characteristics, was not included because the observa-
because they provided an independent assessment of tional data did not include measures of task identity at
the employee's positive emotion. Combined together, both time 1 and time 2. Items measuring these four job
these 15 items formed a reasonably reliable scale characteristics were combined to form a measure of
(Cronbach's alpha equaled 0.74), designed to assess the overall motivating potential of each employee's job.
positive emotion in the work role. The scale assessed Cronbach's alpha was 0.96 at time 1 and 0.90 at time 2.
the tendency to feel and display positive rather than Supervisor support is the extent to which an em-
negative emotion on the job at time 1. ployee receives emotional and tangible assistance from
Dependent Variables. The dependent variables in his or her immediate supervisor. The same scale was
this study included two measures of work achievement used to measure supervisor social support at both time
(supervisor evaluations at time 2 and pay at time 2), 1 and time 2. Supervisor social support at time 1 was
one measure of job enrichment (job characteristics at used as a control variable in the analysis. This scale
time 2), and two measures of the employee's social included three items from the supervisor support scale
environment (supervisor social support at time 2 and developed by Beehr (1976). The fourth item asked how
coworker social support at time 2). true it was that the employees' supervisor went out of
The same instrument was used to measure supervisor his/her way to praise good work. Cronbach's alpha
evaluation at both time 1 and time 2. Supervisor evalu- was 0.84 at time 1 and 0.79 at time 2.
ation at time 1 was used as a control variable in the Coworkersupport is the extent to which an employee
longitudinal analysis to help partial out the effects of receives emotional and tangible assistance from the
the supervisor's opinion at time 1 on his or her opinion members of his or her work group. The same scale was
at time 2. Because of employee turnover and changes used to measure coworker support at both time 1 and
in supervisors, complete evaluation forms at both time time 2. Coworker support at time 1 was used as a
1 and time 2 were available for only 60 employees. control variable in the analysis. This five-item scale was
Supervisors were asked to rate their subordinates on composed of three items adapted (and modified) from
eight dimensions: work quality, work quantity, creativ- Seashore (1954) and two items developed for the Ef-
ity, lateness, dependability, affinity for working, desire fectiveness in Work Roles study. Cronbach's alpha was
for responsibility, and getting along with others. The 0.76 at time 1 and 0.68 at time 2.
eight items on this rating form were combined into a
single index. Cronbach's alpha at both time 1 and time Control Variables
2 was 0.92. In addition to measures of the five dependent variables
Pay from the job (rather than income from all at time 1, the other control variables used in this study
sources) was measured on the interview with the fol- were education, age, gender and rated intelligence.
lowing question: "How much does your income from These variables were all measured at time 1. Age was
your job figure out to be a year, before taxes and other measured during the interview. We controlled for age
because it is related to job satisfaction (Janson and time 1 as a control.If positive emotion at time 1 was a
Martin 1982), and thus may be related to general statisticallysignificantpredictorof a favorableoutcome
affectiveresponseson the job. Moreover,a meta-analy- at time 2 over and above the effects of that dependent
sis by Waldmanand Avolio (1986) suggeststhat super- variable at time 1 (and of the other four control vari-
visors tend to give lower performanceratingsto older ables), then supportfor our underlyingcausal assump-
employees. Education was measured through self- tions would be found (Pedhauzer1982).
report data from the interview.We controlledfor this It could be argued that the 18 to 20 month time
variable because more educated employees may be interval of this study was not theoretically ideal for
viewed more favorablyby their supervisorsand co- testing the effects of positive emotion upon work out-
workers,and be paid more, regardlessof the employ- comes. Logically,a 6 to 12 month intervalwould have
ees' felt and expressedemotion. Genderwas measured allowed enough time for pay, task design or social
through the observationsrecorded at the end of the supportto have been influencedby positive affect.The
face-to-face interview. We controlled for gender be- longer interval of this study probably increased the
cause research suggests that women convey more number of exogenous and random influences on the
warmththan men (Deaux 1985). dependent variables,makingit harder to find any sig-
We used a one-item measure of rated intelligence nificanteffects of emotion. Thus, one should view the
developedby Quinnand Shepard(1974).This five-point results that follow as a fairly conservativetest of the
scale was completed by the professional interviewer researchhypotheses.
from the SurveyResearch Center after the 90 minute The first hypothesis was that employees who had
interviewwith the employee.Quinnand Shepard(1974) more positive emotion at time 1 would receive more
reported that this one item scale correlated0.72 with favorableevaluationsfrom their supervisorsand higher
intelligence as measured by the Ammons Quick Test pay at time 2. The longitudinalfindingspresented in
(Ammonsand Ammons 1962,Trauband Spruill1982). Table 2 support this hypothesis for both supervisor
We controlled for rated intelligence because employ- evaluationsand pay. Positive emotion at time 1 had a
ees who appear to be intelligent may also be more fairly strong effect on supervisor ratings at time 2
likely to receive higher ratings and pay from their (Beta = 0.31, p < 0.01, one-tailed) and had a weak,
supervisors. but significant,effect on pay time 2 (Beta = 0.05, p <
0.05, one-tailed). The strongest predictor of both of
these dependentvariableswas the level of that variable
Results at time 1. Education was also a weak (marginally
Table 1 reportsmeans, standarddeviations,and inter- significant),predictorof pay.
correlationsfor all measuresused in this study. The second hypothesiswas that employeeswho had
The three hypothesesreflected our general assump- higher levels of positive affect at time 1 would have
tion that positive emotion leads to favorableoutcomes more observedjob enrichmentat time 2. The results
for employees. Our longitudinaldesign enabled us to reported in Table 3 do not support this prediction.
conduct analyses consistent with this causal assump- Positive emotion at time 1 had a very weak and non-
tion. We examined the relationshipbetween positive significant relationship to job enrichment at time 2
emotion on the job at time 1 and five favorableout- (Beta = 0.03, ns.). Observedjob enrichmentat time 1
comes on the job at time 2: 18 to 20 monthslater. Yet, was a strong predictorof observedjob enrichmentat
even using this longitudinaldesign, an alternativeex- time 2.
planation is that a relationshipbetween positive emo- The third hypothesiswas that employees who had
tion and a favorable outcome occurs because of the positive affect at time 1 would receive more support
enduringeffects of that favorableoutcome on positive from their supervisorsand coworkersat time 2. The
emotion. In order to help control for the prior and longitudinalfindingspresented in Table 4 supportthis
concurrent effects of favorable outcomes on positive hypothesis.Positiveemotion at time 1 had a substantial
emotion at time 1, we used a multiple regressionpro- effect on supervisorsupport at time 2 (Beta = 0.25,
cedure similar to that employed by Nolen-Hoeksema p < 0.01, open-tailed), and a modest and marginally
and her colleagues(1986) in their longitudinalstudyof significant effect on coworker support (Beta = 0.09,
the effects of depression and explanatory style on p < 0.10, one-tailed). The dependentvariablesat time
achievementin school children. For each of the five 1 were significantly,but not strongly,related to them-
equations predicting a favorable outcome variable at selves at time 2. In addition, age predicted greater
time 2, we introduced a measure of that outcome at supervisorsupport, while education was a marginally
ORGANIZATIONSCIENCE/VO1. 5, No. 1, February 1994 61
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BARRY M. STAW, ROBERT I. SUTrON AND LISA H. PELLED EmployEmotion and Favorable Outcomes
Table 2 Work Achievement Table 3 Job Enrichment

Results of longitudinal multiple regression: Beta weights Results of longitudinal multiple regression: Beta weights
of positive emotion, work achievement variables, and control of positive emotion, job enrichment, and control variables
variables at time 1 as predictors of work achievement at time 1 as predictors of job enrichment at time 2
at time 2
Predictors Job Enrichment
Predictors Supervisor Evaluation Pay
(n = 129)
s(n = 191) Positive Emotion 0.03
Positive Emotion 0.31*** 0.05** Job Enrichment at Time 1 0.53***
Dependent Variable Education 0.12
at Time 1 0.38*** 0.94*** Age 0.05
Education 0.14 0.05* Gendera 0.05
Age 0.23 -0.02 Rated Intelligence 0.04
Gendera -0.04 0.02
Rated Intelligence 0.08 0.01 Adjusted R Square 0.35***
Adjusted R Square 0.41*** 0.90*** aGender is coded: 0 = males, 1 = females.

***p < 0.01.
aGender is coded: 0 = males, 1 = females. ** p < 0.05.
***p < 0.01. * p < 0.10.
** p < 0.05.
p <0.10.
Table 4 Supportive Social Context
Beta weights of positive emotion, social context variables,
significant predictor of both greater supervisor and and control variables at time 1 as predictors of social context
variables at time 2
coworker support.
Predictors Supervisor Support Coworker Support
Discussion (n = 251) (n = 209)

Our findings suggest that employees who travel through Positive Emotion 0.25*** 0.09*
organizational life in a good mood will reap more Dependent Variable 0.18*** 0.16**
favorable outcomes from their workplaces in compari- at Time 1
son to their more negative counterparts. Four of the Education 0.12* 0.11*
five predicted relationships were supported. As Hy- Age 0.17*** 0.00
pothesis 1 predicted, employees who had positive emo- Gender a 0.03 0.07
tion on the job had more favorable supervisor evalua- Rated Intelligence -0.05 0.07
tions and greater pay 18 months later, suggesting
Adjusted R Square 0.15*** 0.04**
greater achievement on the job. As Hypothesis 3 pre-
dicted, employees with positive emotion at time 1 had
aGender is coded: 0 = males, 1 = females.
greater supervisor and coworker support at time 2,
***p < 0.01.
suggesting a more supportive social context. Only Hy- ** p < 0.05.
pothesis 2 was not supported; the proposed relation- * p<0.lO.
ship between positive emotion and job enrichment was
not significant.
Although we presented a preliminary test of the between affect and outcomes were upheld, the plausi-
framework summarized in Figure 1, we did not provide bility of the overall theoretical model was strength-
a complete test of the model. We did not measure the ened. Therefore, it is now important for future re-
proposed intervening processes, but instead assumed, search to test the relative contribution of each of these
on the basis of past research, that positive emotion intervening variables and to examine whether they do
leads to persistence, enhanced cognitive functioning, indeed mediate the relationship between positive emo-
and altruism in the employee, as well as to interper- tion and favorable outcomes at work.
sonal attraction, halo, and increased social influence on The results of this study, along with the literature
others. Because most of the hypothesized relationships used to develop the model in Figure 1, suggest that
ORGANIZATIONSCIENCE/VO1. 5, No. 1, February 1994 63
BARRY M. STAW, ROBERT 1. SUTTON AND LISA H. PELLED Employee Positive Emotion and Favorable Outcomes
knowledge about the consequences of job attitudes can ships with others. It is, of course, not yet clear whether
be enhanced by going beyond traditional correlates of positive emotion yields interpersonal benefits because
job satisfaction, such as absenteeism and turnover. The of real or imagined contributions by the individual.
findings also suggest that affective measures other than Additional research is needed to examine whether
job satisfaction can be useful for predicting important positive emotion actually improves group and interper-
individual outcomes. We used theory and research on sonal functioning in organizations, as well as the partic-
constructs related to positive emotion such as opti- ular types of organizations in which such effects might
mism, positive and negative affect, and depression to be greatest.
identify a wider range of psychological and social pro- The basic psychological literature on emotion not
cesses likely to bring favorable outcomes to the em- only suggests a wider range of consequences for job
ployee. This wide-ranging literature, along with the attitudes; it also suggests a wider set of determinants.
preliminary empirical support found for the model Already, the broader formulation of job attitude re-
proposed here, suggests that an expanded search for search mentioned at the outset of this paper has opened
the consequences of emotion should continue along organizational research to enduring (Staw et al.,
several lines of inquiry. 1986) and even genetically-based dispositions (Arvey
We examined only five dependent variables as indi- et al. 1989), along with social information processing
cators of the three categories of favorable outcomes at (Salancik and Pfeffer 1978), as predictors of positive
work. The effect of positive emotion on a wider range emotion.3 However, the broad psychological literature
of outcomes might be examined. For example, our on positive emotion suggests still other important de-
arguments suggest that, all other factors being equal, terminants that have been given little empirical or
employees who feel and express positive emotion on theoretical attention by organizational researchers. In
the job may receive more frequent and more substan- spite of the early work by Roethlisberger and Dickson
tial promotions, may generate more favorable impres- (1946) and Herzberg (1966), organizational researchers
sions among clients, may receive more outside offers have devoted only modest attention to physical charac-
for employment, and may be trusted more by peers and teristics of the workplace as predictors of employee
supervisors. Further, although the model presented outcomes. The psychological literature suggests that
here focused on the link between positive emotion and simple physical variables such as noise, crowding and
outcomes that are favorable to the employee, many of temperature are powerful determinants of mood. For
our arguments could easily be extended to explain example, there is consistent evidence that high temper-
outcomes that are also favorable to the organization. atures bring about a negative mood (Anderson 1989,
Certainly, the literature that shows people with positive Zajonc et al. 1989). These findings, when combined
emotion working more persistently, more quickly, and with the model presented here, suggest that simple
with more creativity implies a direct link between affect physical variables (or what have been labeled "hygiene
and organizational outcomes. However, as Staw et al. factors") may ultimately have an overlooked influence
(1986) note, a crucial moderator may be whether the on the outcomes that employees receive from the
work role can be best served through enthusiasm and workplace. Supporting this position have been recent
action versus a more critical (and perhaps negative) studies on the effects of physical space on job attitudes
posture. This may be an important dilemma for future (e.g., Oldham and Rotchford 1983, Hatch 1987), and
research to solve empirically. some provocative research by Baron (1992) on the
The model developed here suggests that organiza- consequences of both lighting and scent. When people
tional researchers may also have devoted insufficient work under lighting conditions that are favorable in
attention to the influence of emotion on social rela- terms of illuminance and spectral distribution, they
tions at the workplace. Job satisfaction research typi- appear to set higher work goals, resolve conflicts more
cally considers how employees act in isolation in the cooperatively, and exhibit more creative thinking.
work context. In contrast, the emphasis here on the Baron (1992) also reports that similar results have been
broader literature on positive emotion, along with our found when individuals work in the presence of pleas-
findings that employees with positive emotion received ant rather than unpleasant scents.
greater support from supervisors and coworkers 18 Our general perspective emphasized that employees
months later, suggests that emotion shave a significant with positive emotions will be more successful in orga-
influence on peers and superiors. This research sug- nizational life than employees with negative emotions.
gests that positive emotion may bring about tangible We do not, however, wish to convey the impression
rewards, at least in part, through its effects on relation- that negative emotions will always lead to unfavorable
outcomes. Research is needed on the conditions under warded for being friendly to their superiors and
which employees' negative emotions benefit both them- coworkers, and that acting nasty is only one of the
selves and their organizations. It seems plausible, as many social influence strategies used during interac-
noted by Staw et al. (1986), that negative emotions may tions with a recalcitrant public (Rafaeli and Sutton
be functional in a job in which critical evaluation is an 1991, Sutton 1991).
important part of the role (e.g., an inspector or a
resource allocator). Likewise, the use of heuristics and
the speed of response often associated with positive Conclusion
affect (Isen and Means, 1983, Isen et al., 1982) may not This study was not meant to provide a definitive an-
be applicable in situations in which cautious and delib- swer to how emotion shapes behavior and outcomes in
erate decision-making is needed. organizations, but to help open the topic for serious
There also may be hidden costs to conveying positive research. We have attempted to map the likely conse-
emotion in interactions with subordinates, peers and quences of positive affect in organizations and to point
superiors. Employees who respond to interruptions to its most plausible mediatory processes. This study
from others by being positive or friendly may reinforce should therefore be viewed as an early step in a broad
such behavior, and thus be interrupted with increasing campaign-a long-term program of research that may
frequency. As a result, warm and friendly employees ultimately link the myriad of human emotions with a
may be unable to get their work done, while negative set of relevant outcomes for both individuals and work
or hostile employees-whom others may dread inter- organizations.
rupting-may be more productive because they work This research cast its conceptual net beyond the job
with fewer diversions (Pfeffer, 1989). Dissatisfaction satisfaction literature. The perspective proposed here
and negative emotion may also lead to constructive implies that organizational researchers may have de-
conflict. Bell and Staw (1992), for example, found that voted too much effort in defining and measuring job
students who were the least satisfied with their MBA satisfaction and not enough time exploring the broader
program were the ones who made the greatest number implications of emotion in the workplace. The present
of suggestions for the program's improvement. study focused on what is probably the most widely-
Similarly, Janis (1989) has emphasized that poor studied, and most widely agreed-upon dimension of
decisions may be made by groups composed of mem- human emotion, the positive-negative continuum
bers who have strong interpersonal attraction, that (Zajonc et al. 1989). But other possible emotions are
express positive feelings to one another, and avoid also candidates for study in the organizational context.
unpleasant open conflict. He describes this situation as For example, it may be fruitful to delineate reactions
groupthink, a decision-making pathology of highly co- to stressful jobs into specific emotions such as fear,
hesive groups that suppress dissent and have the opti- frustration, dread and fatigue, since the consequences
mistic illusion that they are invulnerable. His work of these specific emotions may differ from that of the
suggests that groups that are characterized by excessive more global construct of distress. Likewise, instead of
positive emotion will make poor decisions because using broad concepts of job involvement such as orga-
members do not critically evaluate each decision and nizational identification or internalization, it may be
its consequences. Janis posits that encouraging argu- important to assess specific emotions that occur at
mentation, and thus a moderate level of expressed work such as pride, joy, hope and excitement. Finally,
negative emotion, will help groups engage in critical rather than treating the emotions of guilt and jealousy
thinking. as (usually unmeasured) mediating processes in equity
Finally, it should be noted that there are some models (Adams 1965), it may be useful to consider
occupations in which employees who express negative these emotions as interesting variables in their own
emotions garner social and financial rewards from the right. Just as Stearns and Stearns' (1986) writings imply
organization. For example, bill collectors and police that the experience and control of anger may have an
interrogators are paid, in part, for the expression of important influence on employee success, the occur-
negative emotions that degrade the self-esteem of oth- rence and management of many emotions may have
ers, so as to convince them to pay their overdue bills direct effects on work outcomes.
or to confess a crime (Hochschild 1983, Rafaeli and From the above discussion it should be clear that
Sutton 1989). Nonetheless, even in occupations where positive affect, though important, is not the only emo-
people are paid for acting in a negative manner, a tional state of relevance to organizational behavior.
closer examination reveals that employees are re- Ideally, future research will start to explore the full
etiology of emotions at work and match these with Appendix

likely organizational and personal consequences. A We list belowthe itemscomposingthe scalesused in this study.Each
second challenge will be to explore the transmission of item is followed by parentheses.The first symbol in parentheses
various emotional states throughout the organization. indicatesthe sourceof data for an item: I = respondentself-report
Already there is social psychological research on the duringthe 90 minutestructuredinterview;IO = observationsmade
of the respondentby the interviewerat the end of the structured
interpersonal transmission of emotions such as fear
interview;TO = structuredobservationsmade by trainedinterview-
and anxiety (Kerckhoff and Back 1968, Barley and
ers; and S = evaluationsreported by the respondent'simmediate
Knight 1992). Negative emotion may likewise spread supervisor.The second symbolin parenthesesindicatesthe number
rapidly in organizations, creating job dissatisfaction of responseanchorsused for the item.The thirdsymbolin parenthe-
that is endemic to the setting. Positive emotion, in ses indicateswhether the item was positivelyor negativelycoded.
contrast, may be slower to build and more dependent Positive (+) coding means that larger values reflect more of the
on objective improvements in outcomes. By under- construct;negative(-) codingmeansthat largervaluesreflectless of
standing the transmission of emotion in organizations, the construct.
we can start to identify how people determine the
Items Measuring Positive Emotion
interpersonal environments in which they work
(Schneider 1987) and how psychological states may How often do you feel this way at work?
ultimately influence organizational norms and struc- I feel down-heartedand blue. (I, 4, -)
tures (Staw and Sutton 1992). I get tired for no reason.(I, 4, -)
In closing, however, it is interesting to view the I find myselfrestlessand can't keep still. (1,4, -)
implications of the theory and data presented here for I find it easy to do the thingsI used to do. (I, 4, +)
the vast job satisfaction literature. Although it is a My mind is as clear as it used to be. (I, 4, +)
I feel hopeful about the future.(I, 4, + )
widely accepted truism that job satisfaction has little or
I find it easy to make decisions.(I, 4, +)
no impact on employee performance, our conceptual I am more irritablethan usual.(I, 4, -)
perspective and supporting evidence suggests that this I still enjoythe thingsI used to. (I, 4, +)
truism may require some modification. First, because I feel that I am useful and needed. (I, 4, +)
the concept of positive emotion is a broader (and
perhaps more dispositional) construct than job satisfac- How do you see yourselfin yourwork?
Sad/Happy (I,7, +)
tion, it is likely that its effects are more widespread and
enduring than those of satisfaction. Second, when one Here is [a picture of a] ladder. [It] describeshow much pep and
shifts the dependent variables of interest from organi- energya personhas. The top of the ladderindicatesalwaysbeingfull
zational to employee outcomes, as we have done in this of pep and energy, and the bottom of the ladder representsnever
research, the effects of job attitudes may become larger. havingany pep or energy.Please tell me which step on the ladder
This shift has particularly striking implications for the indicateshow muchpep and energyyou'vehad lately.(I, 7, +)
literature on employee performance evaluations. When Checkthe columnthat indicateshow often the employeedid each of
one adopts the employee's perspective instead of the the following:
organization's perspective on performance evaluations, Smiled.(TO, 4, +)
job satisfaction is transformed from a source of un- Chuckledor laughed.(TO, 4, +)
wanted measurement error to a way of getting ahead at Said somethingthat he/she might have expected to "get a laugh"
work. More generally, our theory and data imply that from someone.(TO, 4, +)
even if employee attitudes have little or no impact on Items Measuring SupervisorEvaluation
aspects of performance that benefit the organization,
displaying and feeling positive attitudes on the job may Checkthe box on each line that best describes[the person
cause organizations to perform in ways that benefit who reportsto you]:
upbeat employees. Does very high qualitywork/Does very low qualitywork.(S, 7, -)
Does a large amountof work/Does very little work.(S, 7,-)
Very dependable/Veryundependable.(S, 7, -)
Acknowledgements Alwaysarriveson time/Always late. (S, 7, -)
We wish to thank Sigal Barsade, Steven Cardoze, Dick Daft, Jennifer Very creative/Not at all creative.(S, 7,-)
Halpern, James Jucker, Roderick Kramer, Sherry Nelson, Marina Likesworkingvery much/Dislikesworkingvery much.(S, 7, -)
Park, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Lorna Peden, Anat Rafaeli, Wilfred Zerbe, and Enjoyshavingresponsibility/Avoidshavingresponsibility.(S, 7, -)
three anonymous Organization Science reviewers for their contribu- Gets alongwell with other people/Doesn't get alongwell with other
tions to this manuscript. people. (S, 7, -)
66 ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994
BARRY M. STAW, ROBERT I. SUITON AND LISA H. PELLED EmployEmotion and Favorable Outcomes
Items Measuring Supervisor Support Negative State Relief model to explain these findings:Altruism
promotespositive feelings, and thus is one of many methods that
Please tell [the interviewer]how true each statement is of [your
people can use to return to a good mood when they are in a bad
supervisor]:
mood. His researchindicatesthat people who are in bad moods can
Standsup to outsidersfor the people he/she supervises.(I, 4, +)
be returnedto a good mood by encounteringany reinforcer.Thus
Takes a personalinterestin those he/she supervises.(I, 4, +)
subjectswho committransgressions,but are given ice creambefore
Keeps informedabout the way his/her people think and feel about
being given a chanceto help someone, are no more likelyto engage
things. (I,4, +)
in altruism than subjects in neutral moods. The implicationsof
Goes out of his/her way to praisegood work.(I, 4, +)
Cialdini'sresearchfor the relationshipbetween negativeaffect and
Items Measuring Coworker Support altruismin organizationalsettings are unclear.Employeesmay use
altruismnow and then to break out of foul moods. But we see no
How good are [yourcoworkers]about givingyou the help you need reason to expect that employeeswho generallyare dissatisfiedor
to do yourjob? (I, 4, + ) depressedwill be more helpful to others at the workplace.Depres-
How well do you feel that [your coworkers]share with you and sion is associatedwith less activityin generaland less social interac-
among themselves news about important things that happen at tion in particular.Thus it seems reasonableto expect that people
(STUDY EMPLOYER)?(I, 4, +) who generallytravelthroughorganizationallife in a bad mood will
How well do you feel that [your coworkers]get along together? have less energyfor helpingothers and will encounterfewer oppor-
(I,4, +) tunitiesto do so.
How well do you feel that [yourcoworkers]stick together?(I, 4, +) 3 The present study focused on the consequencesrather than the
How ready are [yourcoworkers]to defend each other from outside causes of positive emotion. Yet, as with prior researchsuggesting
criticism? (I,4, +) that job attitudes stem partlyfrom stable dispositions(Staw et al.
Items Measuring ObservedJob Characteristics 1986), we did uncover evidence of stability in employee positive
emotionduringthe courseof this longitudinalstudy.The three items
How muchvarietyis there in the job? (TO,7, +) measuringdisplayedpositiveemotionwere not measuredat time 2.
The job requiresan individualto do the same thingsover and over As a result, we could only calculate correlationsbetween the 12
again. (TO, 6, -) self-reportpositive emotion items at time 1 and at time 2. The
The job providesan individualthe opportunityto do a numberof correlationbetween positive emotion at time 1 and at time 2 was
differentkindsof thingsat work.(TO,6, +) 0.49 (n = 267, p < 0.001). In addition,a t-test indicatesno signifi-
How much autonomyis there in the job? (TO,7, +) cant difference(p = 0.85) between the level of positiveemotion at
The job denies the individualany chance to use his/her personal time 1 (mean = 3.53) and at time 2 (mean = 3.54).
initiativeor discretionat work.(TO,6, -)
He/She is givenenoughfreedomto decide how to do his/her work.
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Accepted by Richard L. Daft; received November 8, 1990. This paper has been with the authors for 2 revisions.

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Employee Positive Emotion and Favorable Outcomes at the Workplace

Author(s): Barry M. Staw, Robert I. Sutton and Lisa H. Pelled

Barry M. Staw * Robert I. Sutton * Lisa H. Pelled

Abstract dispositional determinants of affect (e.g., Staw et al.

Positive Emotion * Greatertask activity and Favorable Employee

|Felt positive l Others'responsesto employee Work Achievement

. Moreproneto help others

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Data Sources Measures

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(U ~~~~~~-~c~j CI5 1f i6 c6 r-- c6 i 6 I C\, CI LO

Table 2 Work Achievement Table 3 Job Enrichment

Adjusted R Square 0.41*** 0.90*** aGender is coded: 0 = males, 1 = females.

Discussion (n = 251) (n = 209)

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etiology of emotions at work and match these with Appendix

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Adjusted R Square 0.41* 0.90* aGender is coded: 0 = males, 1 = females.